East African Business Week

Arusha - An experts' meeting held in Kampala, Uganda on October 14 concluded work on the final draft Industrialization Policy and Strategy, which is aims at  providing a regional framework for promoting industrialization in the EAC bloc.
 The meeting, organized by the EAC Secretariat in conjunction with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) was convened to review inputs and recommendations for the Policy and Strategy, identifying priority regional industries to be promoted on the basis of comparative advantage.
The policy targets to achieve the following by the year 2030: contribute to the transformation of the EAC economies into middle income economies with per capita income of US$ 1,300 up from the current average of US$558; increase the manufacturing industry's contribution to the GDP to at least 25% from an average of 9.7%; and contribute to a sustained manufacturing growth rate of 12% from the current 4%.
The policy further targets to increase employment in the manufacturing sector from the current 456,000 to 2.3 million and increase growth rates for manufactured exports to 52% from the current 32%.
To fast track decision making in matters of industrialization in the region and provide leadership and policy guidance, the experts recommended the establishment of a Sectoral Council on EAC Industrialization in line with the Summit directive to ensure that the EAC Industrialization Policy and Strategy is "supported by an effective institutional decision making framework with a view to promoting equitable industrial development in EAC region".
 In addition, a Regional Industrial Observatory (RIO) which will provide timely industrial information for policy reviews and evidence-based decision making in the region is proposed but the experts also called for the full implementation of the provisions of the EAC Customs Union and Common Market protocols to buttress the Industrialization Strategy's implementation; while the establishment of the Regional Industry Promotion Scheme (RIPS), has been recommended as an avenue through which to promote collaboration in production, encourage business linkages and facilitate business partnerships across the region.
 The final draft of the Industrialization Policy and Strategy will be presented to the Summit of Heads of State for approval on November 30, 2011 in Bujumbura, Burundi.